The Verizon virtual care product BlueJeans Telehealth announced this past week that it had enabled integration with the Apple Health app with the aim of allowing patients to share data with clinicians during telemedicine visits.   

The integration will allow patients to share data such as heart rate, sleep and falls with their provider, said BlueJeans Chief Innovator and Strategist Krish Ramakrishnan in a blog post.  

"Health app users remain in control of which categories of Health app data they choose to share with their provider during each telehealth appointment, and shared data is encrypted in transit and at rest," said Ramakrishnan.  

WHY IT MATTERS  

According to Ramakrishnan, the integration is intended to give patients and providers more data and thus improve the overall visit outcome.  

The update also includes a unique Televisit Tile, which supports information and document sharing and displays information collected during the visit.  

"Ideal for group sessions, the new tile features a patient selector that ensures user data will only be viewable and remain secure between the patient and their healthcare provider," wrote Ramakrishnan.

Users will be able to select Apple Health app data from within the pre-visit patient landing experience via the BlueJeans app or through the televisit tile during the visit. The provider will be able to observe trend lines or screen share it for use during the appointment.  

WHY IT MATTERS  

Apple Health has ramped up its offerings in the last few years, bolstered by regulations that enable information sharing and by the growing popularity of wearables.  

For instance, it recently added measurements of walking steadiness to its new iPhone operating system and measurements of respiratory rate to the Apple Watch's sleep app.  

Its personal health record feature also enables data-sharing, giving patients access to their electronic health records for ready access to information.    

"I will tell you, as a physician I’ll see patients in the ER … and a lot of times the questions we ask are ‘What kind of medications are you on?’ … So now to have an area where I can look at all of that is very helpful," said Dr. Sumbul Desai, VP of health at Apple, in February 2019.

ON THE RECORD  

"At BlueJeans, we believe the future of virtual healthcare is dependent on connectivity and the ability to drive real-time insights, and deliver care through connected health," said Ramakrishnan. 

"By empowering patients to share this level of contextual information directly into the BlueJeans Telehealth visit, we are enabling patients and healthcare providers to have more meaningful conversations and successful virtual consultations that can lead to better patient outcomes," he added.

Kat Jercich is senior editor of Healthcare IT News.
Twitter: @kjercich
Email: kjercich@himss.org
Healthcare IT News is a HIMSS Media publication.